Seminary: not just grad school (who knew?)

So there are 11 Episcopal seminaries in the US; I'd heard of about half. I figured I'd probably attend the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (ETSS) which is here in Austin and about a mile from my apartment, but that was before I found out a little more about the discernment process.

The discernment process is the process of discerning (duh) whether you are right for ordained ministry and if ordained ministry is right for you. There are committees. I don't know how many committees, but it was made very clear that there are many. My first one, I think, is the Committee of Holy Orders. These are the folks in my church who decide if I'm suitable to continue the process. After that I meet with the bishop and then the committee folks individually (I think) and El Bish again and if I get the go ahead (this is all after I've earned my bachelors, of course) then it's Seminary Road for me.

I had thought that going to Seminary was like going to a special God Grad school, but as usual I was wrong as white pantyhose (y'all know the only people who can get away with white hose are actual, no foolin', blood-drawin' nurses, and only then because they're sort of scary and have access to needles and things). Apparently, once you get the big okay from the bishop and the Holy Orders folks, you get a letter from El Bish telling you where to go, and you pretty well jump to it.

I'll go, of course, because wherever I'm sent is where I'm supposed to be but I sort of hope that wherever I'm supposed to be is within a 5 mile radius of where I currently live. Not because I'm all that attached to Austin (which I am) or that I'm loathe to abandon my grandparents who raised me, just when they need me most (which I am) but because I'm almost completely sure that there are no good breakfast tacos to be found around Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

Yale, can you imagine? That's in Connecticut! Connecticut!!! That's not even IN Texas. Also, the grandfather who raised me? Harvard man. Big ole Harvard man. Can just imagine the horror if I got sent to not only a Yankee school, but a Yankee school that wasn't Harvard? Scandal!

Also, I can't leave my dog, so Lord, if it be your will, please send me to a seminary where I can live with my dog and be near my grandparents and also get really good migas any time of the day or night (this last one is important).

This reminds me of my favorite petition prayer which goes a little something like this:.

"Accept and fulfill our petitions, we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance, nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as your know and love us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

This blog has been brought to you by someone who has no desire to be in King Aurthur's court.